The Arizona Daily Star Sportsmen’s Fund raises money so children from low-income households and active military families in Southern Arizona can attend summer camp on scholarships funded by Star readers.

We send local kids to weeklong YMCA, Scouting America (formerly Boy Scouts) and Girl Scout overnight camps, as well as overnight camping at Camp Tatiyee for school-age children with special needs. New last year were scholarships for Flowing Wells students to go to the overnight Sky School camp on Mt. Lemmon. We plan to expand our Sky School camp partnership in 2026 to fund additional children from Title 1 schools.

In 2025, we received 1,094 donations totaling $279,542.56 and spent $256,252 on scholarships to send 423 Southern Arizona boys and girls to camp. We are expanding our sponsored camps in 2026 to the University of Arizona Sky School at the Steward Observatory atop Mt. Lemmon. The four-day, three-night science camp will draw from middle and high school students at Title 1 schools.